Alright.. Next chapter..

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Tails lifted one paw to his eyes, rubbing each one rather forcefully as he attempted to rid them of the sting that came with fatigue. Closing his eyes tight he shook his head then opened them, returning the hand to continue to tamper with the upgrade on the Tornado. His eyebrows lifted, eyes slightly wider then usual as another usual sign of someone fighting sleep. Suddenly he let loose a frustrated growl and leaned back from his work, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. He had been up since before daybreak, and staying up until quarter to eleven really was not helping any. Especially since he had been working on his darling plane the entire time.

His shoulders lifted and fell as he gave an over-exagerated sigh and hopped off the plane, wincing slightly as he had been crouched on the wing for nearly a half hour. Kicking each leg to work out the kinks he lumbered off towards the kitchen, slightly slouched, with a mission to get some kind of caffeinated beverage to keep him awake.

Reaching his destination he grabbed for the fridge door and opened it, staring dully inside. However at this point he had caught movement out of the corner of his eye of trees swaying far too quickly for the calm night that it was. His eyes appeared above the door of the refridgerator, peering out the window. He gasped as Sonic came roaring up the steps two at a time, slowing as he came from his break-neck run and yelling at the top of his lungs for everyone within hearing distance to wake up. Tails darted for the entryway wondering what the problem was, and forgot about his drink in the process.

"Tails! TAILS! Rouge! Knuckles!!" The blue hedgehog was hollering, maybe a bit too loudly, judging from the lights flicking on upstairs and cries of angry wakers.

The hero didn't care.

He had Shadow.

He nearly ran smack into Tails when he went for the door and it flew open.

"Sonic? Whats wrong? Wha - " He stopped mid-sentence, staring at the figure in Sonic's arms, as that was the first place his eyes went because he wasn't quite as tall as his role model.

"Where's Rouge and Knuckles?" Sonic panted, his anxiety thumping in his chest as his heart beat at a rather rapid pace.

Tails didn't reply.

He was busy ogling the black shape pronounced clearly against Sonic's cream chest, water-soaked head leaned into his blue shoulder and streaked in crimson. Sonic became a bit annoyed, as people tend to do when someone refuses to listen and something important is happening.

"Sonic what the hell do you think you're doing?" A gruff voice rumbled from the stairs, and jade eyes snapped to the staircase where a dread-locked echidna was descending. A white bat in nothing but her nightgown appeared behind him, looking hardly less then peeved from being woken up from her beauty sleep.

"Its Shadow!" The hero blurted, still clutching the ebony and scarlet hedgehog in his arms as he pushed by Tails, who was still in shock and staring at the hedgehog Sonic carried.

Suddenly Rouge seemed much more awake, ears perking as she shoved her fellow treasure hunter aside, rewarded with a yelp as he fell into the banister.

"Shadow?" Her eyes fell from the blue one's face to the black figure, and her breath caught in her throat. Knuckles' violet eyes slanted as he rubbed his side. Tails' jaw had fallen open, still staring.

Sonic nodded wildly, and let out a cry of startled protest as the winged female abruptly grabbed his arm, coming out of her shock as she yanked the sprinter down the hallway.

"Rouge!" He yelped as he stumbled, trying to keep his balance as he pranced after her. She pretty much dragged him to the medical room nearby, nearly throwing him inside and going to work at once grabbing what seemed like random medical supplies. She snapped at Sonic to put his crumpled load on the bed. Sonic, coming out of his initial stun, moved to put the black hedgehog on the bed, where his head lolled around in an almost grotesque manner. Sonic winced slightly, staring at the sight of the battered male, but was shoved out of the way into Knuckles and Tails who had just entered the room.

Knuckles caught him and shoved him yet again into a standing position. Sonic grunted, rubbing his arm and shooting a glare at Knuckles.

"How about we stop shoving Sonic around?" He spoke in the third person, annoyed at being pushed around when he was the one who had found Shadow. Rouge whirled and proceeded to shove the trio of males out of the room.

"Out! Out! Get out!"

The hedgehog and echidna yelled protests, but only to have the door slammed in their faces, blocking their view from the hospital-like room. Sonic growled in aggravation, yelling at the wooden door that he had been the one to find Shadow, so should still be in there. He began to bounce from foot to foot, his adrenaline still coarsing high in his veins.

"Sonic?" Tails squeaked, apparently coming out of his stupor and closing his gaping mouth long enough to swallow and speak.

The hero turned, still rocking on the balls of his feet as he looked at his 'adoptive' little-brother, who continued:

"Shadow?"

He was looking - no, goggling - at the older hedgehog. Sonic let his emerald gaze sweep from the orange fox to the Guardian, whom was also staring at him expectantly. He couldn't surpress his grin as he nodded.

"But how - when di - whaa..?" The fox was spluttering, still appearing confused. Sonic rubbed the back of his neck, the daze that he had actually found the source of his feeling of loss beginning to settle in again. His anxiety was quickly being joined by excitement as the knowledge that Shadow - THE Shadow - was now in the Mystic Ruins and in fact not dead.

"I don't know, little buddy. I found him lying there when I was down at the beach.." There was a tremble in his voice from the rush of emotions swelling inside of him, his eyes wide and looking nothing like the depressed hedgehog he had been only minutes ago back at the ocean side.

Knuckles was staring at Sonic, then looking at the closed door, then back at Sonic. He seemed at a loss for words, despite the serious look on his face, which - to say the least - was surprising for the echidna. All at once it appeared that the red one was kicking back into gear, and he proceeded to shove his two younger friends down the hallway to the kitchen.

"Lay off the shoving!" Sonic protested for what seemed the hundreth time that night, a look of annoyance replacing the ecstasy on his face as his ears folded. Tails was shoved right along with him, and the Guardian only stopped when they had reached the kitchen after much struggling. His arms crossed across his moon-marked chest, violet eyes staring seriously at Sonic, though flicking to the open fridge door in mild curiousity. Tails looked at the fridge and blinked, realizing that he had been there to get a drink only moments before. He had totally forgotten - he was very awake now, however, and the need for caffeine was not there anymore.

"Er.. Anyone want a drink?" He offered meekly, pointing at the gaping door and glancing at his friends. It was obvious nobody would be getting to sleep now. Even Knuckles who - despite appearing ruffled from getting out of bed so abruptly - appeared to be wide awake. The last minute or so had happened so fast that it still caused an occasional blink from one of the trio randomly. Sonic looked around, his infamous grin slapping onto his lips as he nodded.

About an hour later after two retellings of Sonic's finding of Shadow and three cans of Mountain Dew, Tails was seated drumming his fingers on the table top, Sonic was pacing, and Knuckles was looking irritable leaned in the doorway of the kitchen. They were quiet, but the tension in the room was obvious. Sonic had gone from being jovial to concerned and impatient quite quickly and wouldn't stop moving, despite the frequent icy spew from the scarlet Guardian that he had better stop moving before he stopped the hedgehog moving himself.

The three of them looked up as Rouge came walking down the hallway, a serious air surrounding her as the males stared at her expectantly. All movement had ceased as she looked at each one of them.

"Go to bed." She stated. Flatly no less.

"Is he all right? Is he going to make it? How bad is it? Will - " Sonic's abrupt ramble of questions was immediately cut short with a lifted hand and a peircing glare. Rouge shook her head, then pointed to the stairs.

"Go shower and go to bed."

Sonic blinked as she moved her pointing to his chest, where it was smeared in dried crimson. The blue one hadn't even noticed, and he blinked again as he came to the realization that he had been pacing around for an hour with Shadow's blood on his chest, and hadn't noticed at all. Rouge appeared slightly irked by the fact that nobody was listening. An eyebrow twitched as she jabbed her finger back to the staircase and spoke firmly:

"Bed!"

Sonic grumbled softly as Tails - not liking when Rouge got angry - leapt to his feet and was up the stairs in a flash. Sonic, still muttering something about unfairness, headed for the stairs reluctantly and dissapeared up them. Knuckles - however - lingered, arms crossed, eyeing Rouge expectantly. Her aqua-marine gaze suddenly melted from serious to tiredly happy as she looked at him, the purse of her lips turning into a weak smile.

Knuckles' mouth quirked in satisfaction and he headed for the stairs aswell.

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*cringe, bounces nervously* Is it okay? Did I rush a bit much? *^^* Can you tell I want to make this at least decent? ^^;;; R/R please! Constructive criticism would be nice too ^-^

Sonic & co - not mine. All Sega's!